Award-winning
medical technology company MediSieve have been awarded a grant worth £150,000
by the National Institute of Health Research, in order to perform the first
clinical studies of their magnetic blood filtration device.

The medical device company, best known for their
development of a magnetic drug-free Malaria treatment, is working to develop
treatments for a number of other blood-borne diseases, including Sepsis and
Leukaemia. This award has come as part of the i4i Connect scheme, developed as
part of the UK Government's Accelerated Access Programme, helping to connect
promising medical research with funding.

Worth a total of £150,000 over a twelve-month
period, the award will enable MediSieve to perform the very first human testing
of the device at a hospital in London, in order to validate the safety of the
procedure. It is a potential precursor to a larger grant after the progress of
the research has been assessed, with more follow-on funding a possibility to
help accelerate MediSieve up their development pathway.

George Frodsham, founder and CEO of MediSieve,
said: "It's absolutely fantastic to be awarded this grant from the NIHR,
which will provide £150,000 of invaluable funding crucial to our work. First-in-man
clinical studies are a huge milestone for any new medical technology, and we’re
really excited to be able to take this step and move closer to our goal of
providing doctor’s with a tool with which to clean blood and treat all sorts of
blood-borne diseases”.

Martin Hunt, NIHR i4i Programme Director, said:
"SMEs have told us that there is a gap in funding both in the early stage
of development and for completed projects that do not have all the data to
effectively access the follow-on funding marketplace. i4i Connect will support
teams through either of these stages of development with a fast turnaround of
funding - vital for SMEs needing to maintain momentum."

MediSieve’s device utilises a revolutionary
approach to fighting disease. In malaria, magnets are used to filter malaria
infected cells directly from a patient’s blood, by exploiting the cells’
naturally occurring magnetic properties, before the clean blood re-enters their
systems. Crucially, this technique is impervious to resistant strains of the
disease, as it is drug-free - combatting another potentially devastating
problem in the future. The company is also currently developing magnetic
particles which bind to specific targets in the bloodstream, enabling its
magnetic blood filtration technology to be expanded to treat a far greater
range of diseases.

The award comes on the back of an excellent run
for MediSieve, having been awarded CMS Healthcare Startup of the Year Award
2017 in the Beanstalks competition, which rewards entrepreneurialism and
innovation in the medical industry. The growth of the business has also
continued with the appointment of William Twigger as Product Engineer, allowing
development to expand and grow the MediSieve device